The patent application DE 42 35 007 A1 discloses a coiling device for cut lengths of wire wherein the inside walls of a drum serve as resting surfaces for formation of the coil and thereby define the external diameter of the coil. In this device, while the wire is being inserted, the drum remains stationary and is opened when the wire length has been attained and the coil bound. Following transfer of both wire-ends of the coil to transfer grippers, subsequent wire-end processing operations as, for example, crimp pressing and/or seal loading, can be performed. Besides advantages from low moving masses, there are also disadvantages as, for example, uncontrollable bending radii when inserting and compressing the various coil layers for binding. Whether the individual windings always lie against the wall is uncertain. Minimum bending radii on entry and emergence of the wire into, and out of, the drum are also not defined.
From patent specification EP 1 387 449 B1 a coiling device with controllable minimum bending radius for wires, especially optical-fiber wires, has become known. In this device, the cut length of wire is coiled by means of a coiling unit into a coil, and after attaining the correct wire-length the wire-ends are of identical length and after the coil has been bound, the wire-ends are accepted by transfer grippers for further processing. For optical-fiber wires the high outlay for mechanics and controls is more readily justified than for wires with copper conductors.
Patent application WO 03/018456 A1 discloses a coiling device for a coil with a rotating coiling arbor, on which hanging and open able coiling arms are arranged. Depending on the cut length of wire, the arms are opened more or less, so that when the wire length is attained, the two wire-ends are approximately the same length. For processing of the wire-ends, after the coil has been bound it is accepted by transfer grippers.
On many types of wire processing machines, the handling of long cut lengths of wire (for example, greater than 7 meters wire length) is difficult. On swiveling machines with swivel arms, the wire tray must be as long as the cut length of wire. On transfer machines with a transfer unit that can be moved along straight lines, during transportation several loop-shaped wires lie on top of each other, which on rapid transportation by means of the transfer unit can cause relatively high wire-pulling forces because the wire is only held at its ends.
In the said patent applications, solution concepts for transfer machines are shown. Separate coiling devices downstream of the wire processing machine have not established themselves because, with the serial processing operations, the cycle time or total processing time for a coiled cut length of wire was correspondingly long.